I'm off to the Humana
Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville this
weekend, where I'll be checking out plays that could well be on their
way to theaters across America in future seasons. For those of you
staying here in Greater Cincinnati, there's lots of good stuff to get
out and see onstage:

War Horse
completes its Cincinnati stop on Sunday. I heard a rumor that it's not
selling well, which strikes me as mystifying. It's one of the best
pieces of theater I've seen on tour in ages. (Review here.) Of course, it's not a
musical (which is what people who go to the Broadway Series at the
Aronoff have come to expect) and it was made into a moderately
successful movie by Steven Spielberg. But the stage production is a
miraculous piece of theater artistry, especially the onstage creation of
living breathing horses, life-sized puppets that are manipulated (by
three performers) that you'll be convinced you're watching the real
thing. The silver lining to poor attendance, I suppose, is that tickets
are readily available. You should get yours right away for the chance to
see this Tony Award-winning production: Final performance is on Sunday.
Box office: 800-987-2787

Last evening I made time to see Cincinnati Shakespeare's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It's going to be around for several more weeks, and it's definitely an
entertaining — and unusual — rendition of the tale of mixed-up lovers. (Review here.) Director Jeremy Dubin has transported it from the mythical Athens that
Shakespeare envisioned and landed it in a swampy Southeastern U.S. in
the 1940s, complete with a few guys with drawls in uniform and a clown
in a loud plaid sports coat. The latter is CSC Nick Rose, and watching
him overact as Nick Bottom, the weaver who imagines himself to be a
brilliant performer, is hilarious. MND's mix of magic and humor is
always fun, even if it doesn't make much sense, especially in this
setting. Box office: 513-381-2273, x1.

Also worth checking out is the Cincinnati Playhouse's entertaining production of The Book Club Play.
It's good in the same way as a well-done TV sitcom: Familiar characters
pushed to comic extremes, funny situations that you can identify with,
story twists that surprise and amuse. (Review here.) Because book clubs are a big deal
these days, lots of people are flocking to see this show (it's been
extended to May 5), so you should call now to get your tickets. I can
assure you that you'll leave the theater with a smile on your face. Box
office: 513-421-3888.

Smiles
cannot be predicted with the staging of Jason Robert Brown's very
serious musical, Parade, at the Carnegie. But a piece of great drama and
fine music is certainly in store if you head to Covington for this one,
staged by Ed Cohen and Dee Ann Bryll. It's actually a studio production
from UC's College-Conservatory of Music, featuring some outstanding
talent from one of America's best training programs for Broadway talent.
The story of a falsely accused factor manager, railroaded into a murder
conviction mainly because of anti-Semitic attitudes, is heart-rending.
But it makes for powerful theater. It opens tonight and runs through
April 21. Box office: 859-957-1940.

Aronoff to host Green Day-inspired Punk Rock opera in spring 2014

Two weeks ago I caught a touring performance of American Idiot: The Musical when it made a three-evening stop at Dayton's Victoria Theatre (see review here).
The performance of Green Day's album transformed into a musical theater
piece was a noisy blast of defiance, full of energy – although a downer
of a story about three guys being overwhelmed by everyday life. But
that's what you's probably expect of a "Punk Rock Opera." We'll have it
for two nights in Cincinnati, Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12,
2014 (that's right, a year from now) as part of the Broadway
Across America series at the Aronoff (about twice the size of the
Victoria). If you're a fan of Green Day, you'll want to see this one.
And if you like shows such as next to normal, a recent big
hit for Ensemble Theatre, it's worth noting that Green Day's songs were
orchestrated for the stage show by Tom Kitt, who composed N2N's story of a bipolar mom struggling to keep her family together.

Blake Robison to stage "Cabaret," "Pride and Prejudice" among compelling new work

“People look to the
Cincinnati Playhouse for classic entertainment and the best contemporary
theatre,” says Blake Robison, producing artistic director, as he announces his
second season, coming in September. For 2013-2014 he’s assembled an array of
big titles — including the classic Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret and a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice — and a
collection compelling new work (including two world premieres), mostly on the
Shelterhouse Theatre stage.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park has two stages: The Robert
S. Marx Theatre is the mainstage with 626 seats; the Thompson Shelterhouse
(which is in fact a one-time park shelter) can accommodate an audience of 225.
Both have thrust-style stages surrounded by audience seating on three sides,
making the action is close and intimate in both theaters.

On the Marx Stage:

·Fly by
Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan (Sept. 7-Oct. 5, 2013). The story of World War II’s
Tuskegee Airmen is told using live action, video projections and tap dancing.
This new work will be directed by Khan, its co-creator.

·Cabaret
by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Oct. 19-Nov. 16, 2013). Set in Berlin in the
1930s, and especially in the decadent Kit Kat Club, it’s a musical love story
with lots of choreography. Marcia Milgrom Dodge, a Broadway veteran, will
direct.

·A
Christmas Carol, adapted by Howard Dallin (Nov. 27-Dec. 29, 2013). Michael
Evan Haney will direct the holiday show with a cast of 30 for the 21st time.

·Clybourne
Park by Bruce Norris (Jan.18-Feb. 16, 2014). This one won the 2011 Pulitzer
Prize and Tony Award for best play. Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s classic
play, A Raisin in the Sun, the play
is explores racial attitudes in a Chicago neighborhood in 1959 and 2009.
Artistic Associate Timothy Douglas (who staged the current production of A Trip to Bountiful) is the director.

·Venus in
Fur by David Ives (April 19-May 17, 2014). Maybe you know Ives’ very funny
collection of skits, All in the Timing. This is a full-length comedy about a
director seeking the right actress who gets more than he bargained for.
Artistic Associate KJ Sanchez is staging this one.

On the Shelterhouse Stage:

·Seven
Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman (Sept. 28-Oct. 27, 2013). The first of
several world premieres for the season, this one is a fable of revenge and
redemption set in a Latin American village just after a brutal civil war.
Sanchez is directing this one.

·The
Complete History of Comedy (Abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company
(Nov. 9-Dec. 29, 2013). The same guys who abbreviated Shakespeare, the Bible
and American history are at it again, premiering their latest abridgment right
here in River City.

·4000 Miles
by Amy Herzog (Feb. 8-March 9, 2014). Robison will stage this tale of a pair of
unlikely roommates, a 91-year-old grandmother and her 21-year-old grandson.

·A Delicate
Ship by Anna Ziegler (March 22-April 20, 2014). Another world premiere
production, this one by an impressive young playwright who offers a humorous
and heartbreaking look at love, memory and decisions that change lives. Michael
Haney will direct. (Haney, perhaps Cincinnati’s best local director, was the
Playhouse’s Associate Artistic Director from 2001 to 2013; starting in the
fall, he joins Douglas and Sanchez in a trio of “artistic associates” who each will
direct two shows.)

·The North
Pool by Rajiv Joseph (May 3-June 1, 2014). Rajiv Joseph’s riveting
psychological drama is the story of a transfer student from the Middle East
whose life quickly becomes complicated. Douglas is the director.

My schedule hasn't afforded me the time to see the production of Don't Cross the Streams: The Cease and Desist Musical, a show that began its life in the Cincinnati Fringe Festival back in June. (It also was a festival highlight at the IndyFringe in Indianapolis in August.) But the very tongue-in-cheek piece inspired by the film Ghostbusters (but not allowed to say that) has now been expanded into a full-fledged
musical that's onstage at Newport's Monmouth Theatre, presented by
Falcon Theatre and Hugo West Theatricals. The League of Cincinnati
Theatres has termed the show a "recommended production," so it's evident
that their judging panel enjoyed it. One panelist called
it "a lively, enthusiastic spoof," and another said that the show is
"an evening of theater that doesn't take itself too seriously. The show just had a two-weekend run, so it's final performance is Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets: 513-479-6783.

Ensemble Theatre's production of Black Pearl Sings! features one of the finest performances by a local actor that I've seen this season. Torie
Wiggins plays a woman in the 1930s who translates her memory of songs
from her African ancestors into a ticket out of prison and to some
notoriety in New York City. Wiggins nuanced performance is complemented by veteran Annie Fitzpatrick as the folk music researcher who sees Pearl as her own ticket to success. Their tentative relationship becomes a delicately balanced friendship, while both explore issues of racism, sexism and getting ahead. Definitely worth seeing. Through March 31. Box office: 513-421-3555.

Lizan Mitchell is at the other end of the career spectrum from Wiggins, but she too plays Carrie Watts, a sprightly, elderly African-Amerian woman whose powerful sense of home takes her on an impromptu journey back to her roots in A Trip to Bountiful at the Cincinnati Playhouse.
It's laced with sadness, since what she remembers no longer exists, but
her memories and her joyful take on life make it all worthwhile, not
only for her but for others in her life, including her browbeaten son and his selfish wife as well as a sweet young woman who is Carrie's companion on a long bus ride. Through April 7. Box office: 513-421-3888.

This weekend Cincinnati Shakespeare is opening a production of the much-loved Shakespearean romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's been transported to 1940s America and set in a Jazz-inspired
magical forest, with original musica composed by resident sound
designer Doug Borntrager; there's also original choreography by Brittany
Kugler. The production is staged by Jeremy Dubin, and features veteran
actor Nick Rose in the role of Nick Bottom the Weaver, the guy who makes
an ass of himself — literally. It's a tangled, funny story that all
works out perfectly in the end. A great show to kick off springtime. Through April 21. Box office: 513-381-2273 x1.

February is Black History Month, a period when the arts traditionally wake up and pay attention to African-American stories and artists.
I'm always a bit troubled by this segmenting, so I want to commend both
the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati
for presenting two fine productions of shows featuring African Americans
in engaging stories — in the middle of March. They represent two of this weekend's best choices.

At ETC, Black Pearl Sings!features two outstanding local actresses. Annie Fitzpatrick plays Susannah Mullally, a folk music researcher in the 1930s; Torie Wiggins is Alberta "Pearl" Johnson, a prisoner (for a violent but probably justified
crime) who has a remarkable recollection of songs she learned as a
child from her family. They form an uneasy alliance that turns into a
guarded friendship, and Fitzpatrick and Wiggins have a delightful
interplay and chemistry. I heard that this might be the 40th production
Fitzpatrick has done at ETC; she's a versatile actress, and she convincingly creates the uptight but driven Susannah. Wiggins, who graduated from the drama program at CCM, earns her Equity card on this production: Chronologically, she's probably a tad young for the role, but she so wholly embodies Pearl's feisty character that it makes no difference. Hers is a tour-de-force rendition, musically and theatrically. This one is a definite must-see. Box office: 513-421-3555.

Let's give the Playhouse — and new artistic director Blake Robison — props for finally getting around to staging a show by Horton Foote, who died in 2009 at the age of 92. He was a prolific dramatist and screenwriter (he wrote screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies) for years, and his play A Trip to Bountiful is a lovely, emotional paean to the notion that "there's no place like home." Foote wrote the play about an
elderly Texas wido pining to return to her hometown in 1953 (as a play
for television, in fact) and it was an award-winning 1985 movie with a white cast. For the Playhouse, Timothy Douglas has changed up the story by overlaying an African-American filter over the story and casting veteran actress Lizann Mitchell as Carrie Watts. She's a dream of an actress,
portraying a tiny Texas cyclone of energy with a wry sense of humor.
The story is nothing too innovative — she runs away from a cramped apartment where she lives with her son and his demanding wife to return to her girlhood home, which has all but disappeared — but the truth and dignity of the tale (and Mitchell's performance) make this show worth seeing. Box office: 513-421-3888.

Finally, I need to mention Clifton Players production of A Behanding in Spokane by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. He's the writer of dark tales like The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Cripple of Inishmaan, as well as the even darker film In Bruges. Clifton Players perform at Clifton Performance Theatre, a tiny, intimate storefront space on Ludlow Avenue. I've heard lots of positive remarks about this production. Be prepared to be shocked and entertained by the show's comic violence. Tickets: 513-861-7469.

As I ate dinner on Tuesday evening before attending a
performance at Dayton’s Victoria Theatre, my server asked, “Did you hear that
Green Day is performing next door?” I had to set her straight. “Well, not
exactly. Green Day’s music is being
performed next door — it’s a Broadway show that uses the tunes from their American Idiot recording.” I caught the
opening night of a three-day gig (through Thursday, March 14) by an energetic
touring company that’s recreating the Tony Award-nominated American Idiot: The Musical. If you have time to make an hour north
on I-75, you won’t be disappointed.

Green Day’s powerful Punk score — their 2004 album was
conceived as a “Punk Rock Opera” — is the perfect soundtrack for the story of
three disaffected guys who take different downward spirals when confronted with
the numbing boredom of everyday life, “alien nation,” as they sing in the
opening number. Johnny is the central character, a wannabe musician who yearns
to make it in the city; he convinces his buddies Will and Tunny to join him in
escaping suburbia.

Their paths diverge quickly: Will’s girlfriend is pregnant,
so he stays to sort things out; Tunny is quickly disaffected by urban life and
captivated by dreams of military success; and Johnny, not quite willing to
admit his loneliness, dreams about a girl he sees and gets caught by a drug
dealer — who’s probably a figment of his imagination. Things don’t turn out
well for any of them, and by show’s end they’re back home, chastened by the
experience — Tunny’s leg lost in combat, Johnny’s ego shattered and Will’s
relationship in ruins. But they seem to be more accepting of their fates. The
curtain call features the entire company playing guitars and performing “Good
Riddance (Time of Your Life),” a number that reflects their disillusion,
reminiscence and (maybe) forward motion.

The current tour has a young cast (it’s a non-Equity tour)
without a ton of experience, but that’s perfect for this show, which demands a
stage full of angry energy. They hurtle through the 100-minute performance,
diving right into the title tune with thrashing energy demanded by Green Day’s
music. (For theater fans, it’s worth noting that Green Day’s music has been
orchestrated and arranged by Tom Kitt, composer of the Tony Award-winning next to normal, a show that has a score
with similar power.) Steven Hoggett’s pounding choreography captures the
physicality of Rock stage performance, rendered rapidly and rhythmically with
tons of repetitive angular motion.

Alex Nee, Casey O’Farrell and Thomas Hettrick, as Johnny,
Will and Tunny, turn in credible performances of roles that don’t have a lot of
depth — and that’s OK. American Idiot is more about emotions than storytelling,
and they each capture that: Nee’s hallucinatory attraction to destructive
behavior is convincing, O’Farrell’s frustration with being trapped and left
behind is believable, and Hettrick’s dreams of heroism and his wake-up call to
a damaged life are rendered credibly. Female roles are more stereotyped — two
of them don’t even have names: Whatsername and The Extraordinary Girl — but
Alyssa DiPalma, Jenna Rubah and Kennedy Caughell (as Heather, the mother of
Will’s kid) have fine voices. DiPalma and Rubah have featured choreography
(Rubah does an aerial ballet with Hettrick as he recovers in a military
hospital) that is effective.

The touring production retains Christine Jones’s scenic
design and Kevin Adams’s lighting design, both of which landed 2010 Tony Awards.
The set has a floor-to-ceiling rear wall sporting two dozen video screens that
support the action — from an opening barrage of mind-numbing, multi-channel
news coverage to scene-to-scene punctuation with wry titles. Additionally, the
screens are sometimes fed live imagery from an onstage camera, especially when
St. Jimmy (Trent Saunders) entices Johnny into the world of addiction, but also
during “Favorite Son,” Tunny’s late-night infomercial of military recruitment
(performed with muscle-bound humor by Jared Young, backed up by four dancers in
sparkling short dresses).

The grunge of American
Idiot is made all the more vivid by the green velvet and gilt trim of the
Victoria Theatre in downtown Dayton (138 North Main St.). While the nihilistic
young men sing, “I don’t care if you don’t care,” I suspect that a lot of
people will care about this show, one that reaches out and grabs audiences by
the scruff of their necks and never lets up. But bear in mind: Only two more
performances — Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets ($46-$67, half-off
student rush, day of show): 937-228-3630 or victoriatheatre.com.

Can you hear the clock ticking? That's not just because this weekend marks the "spring forward" to Daylight Savings Time early on Sunday. It's also because several theater productions are just about over: If you want to see them, you only have a few days left.

Leveling Up, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's show about video gamers,
is as contemporary as can be. One of its characters is recruited by the
NSA to fly drones into war zones — activity that totally blurs the
boundary between the real world and cyberspace, not to mention the moral boundaries between killing video villains and actual living people. (Review here.) The show is also about taking charge of your life in a world of maturity and responsibility, rather than retreating into simulated space. Deborah Zoe Laufer's script uses four characters,
all twentysomethings, who will seem like people you know — their
language, their actions, their concerns are the stuff of contemporary
life. Box office: 513-421-3888.

If you want something that's quite intentionally removed from everyday life, you need to check out the wry and ironic musical theater piece at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera. (Review here.)It's an allegory and critique of corrupt capitalism, told with dark humor in a production by CCM Opera chair Robin Guarino (who has staged productions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City). She knows how to present the stark humor and cynical attitudes in Brecht's script, and the talented CCM musical theater performers (accompanied by a small onstage orchestra dominated by woodwinds and brass) provide great renderings of Weill's score. This is a rarely produced work, definitely worth seeing. Box office: 513-556-4183.

Perhaps you prefer your cynicism in an 18th century mode: That's what you'll get with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's production of Dangerous Liaisons, a story of the idle rich who entertain themselves by seducing and manipulating their naive colleagues — or their innocent offspring. (Review here.) It's not a pretty story, in that the central characters are scheming and out for their own entertainment and pleasure, often for revenge. But if you like nasty behavior, this production has it in spades. Two of CSC's best veterans, Corinne Mohlenhoff and Giles Davies, play the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, a pair of arch schemers who relish making a mess of others' lives. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a literate, cleverly plotted piece of theater. Box office: 513-381-2273 x.1.

The previous three shows finish their runs this weekend. When the Rain Stops Falling at Know Theatre has one more week (it closes on March 16), but you should order your tickets now: I expect the final performances will be hard to get into on short notice. (Review here.) This is one of the best shows that Know has staged in several seasons, a fine, complex script performed by a talented cast of nine, directed by Cincy Shakes Brian Isaac Phillips. (Four of the cast members are CSC regulars.) They play four generations
of two families, strangely and fatefully intertwined. The story weaves
back and forth between 1959 and 2039; at first it seems to be
disjointed, then things suddenly beging to fall into place. By the time it's over — with several shocking moments along the way — you'll see how it all fits together. If you haven't seen this one yet, this is the ticket you need to get. Box office: 513-300-5669.

If you're looking for an unusual but gripping theatrical production this weekend, you should head straight to UC's College-Conservatory of Music for The Threepenny Opera. Don't think that this is some stuffy old piece from 1928, although that's when the
show with a script by Bertoldt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill was first
performed. It was radical and challenging, mocking the establishment
and paying no heed to social structures. This musical theater production, staged by CCM Opera Chair Robin Guarino, feels lethal and threatening. You'll recognize a tune or two ("Mack the Knife" is the show's familiar tune), and if you've seen Cabaret or Urinetown, you'll recognize how this piece influenced those works. Guarino's production, with a big cast and an
imaginative set (designed by Tony Award winner John Arnone), captures
the vitality and spirit of the original work. I doubt we'll see another
production of this one very soon, so here's your chance to catch a bit
of theater history — and be both entertained and provoked. Definitely worth seeing. Through March 10. Box office: 513-556-4183.

If you haven't yet seen Know Theatre's production of When the Rain Stops Falling, that's another one you should have in your sights. Andrew Bovell's dense, imaginative script is a compelling story of multiple, intersecting generations of two families. (Review here.) The taut, engaging 100-minute production,
staged by Cincinnati Shakespeare's Brian Phillips, features several of that company's best actors, as well as several other local standouts. One of the best productions from Know Theatre in several seasons. It's onstage through March 16. Tickets: 513-300-5669.

I haven't seen it (alas, my schedule just doesn't have room for everything), but Legally Blonde: The Musical at NKU has received props from the League of Cincinnati Theatres as an entertaining production. It's the story of Elle Woods, spurned by her fiancé, off to Harvard Law School in pursuit of him, only to discover that she's got the smarts to be more than just a girlfriend. Not profound, but surefire entertainment. Through Sunday. Tickets: 859-572-5464

This is the second and final weekend for Catie O'Keefe's world premiere, Slow Descent from Heaven, presented by New Edgecliff Theatre. (O'Keefe is NET's playwright-in-residence). It's being performed in a converted classroom at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, directed by Ed Cohen. The central character, Molly (Elizabeth A. Harris), is a NASA scientist whose story is bookended by space shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003. An angry, tense character, her involvement with men has affected her career and her attitude.
The story has a reverse chronology, so we peal backwards in time to
learn more about why she's the way she is. This is a good chance to see an original script by a local writer. Tickets: 513-399-6638.

According to Cincinnati Playhouse's new artistic director,
Blake Robison, "I'm thrilled to give everyone a sneak peak at our
upcoming 2013-2014 season by announcing our first two Marx productions."
Behind this announcement is the fact that the two shows are
co-productions with Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, which kind of
spilled the beans with an announcement a few weeks back of its two
opening shows, which are swapped with the Playhouse. But that's neither
here nor there, since they both mean theatrical excitement for audiences
here in Cincinnati.

The Playhouse will open the season in September with Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan's Fly,
the powerful story of World War II's famed Tuskegee Airmen. The
production, staged by Khan, combines live action and video projections
with a tap dancer who offers insights into the hopes, fears, angers and
triumphs faced by the airmen as they fight two wars — one in Europe and
another back home against a rising tide of racism. Following Fly (which
will run Sept. 12-Oct. 5), the Playhouse will present Kander & Ebb's
classic musical Cabaret (Oct. 24-Nov. 16), a show with
iconic choreography and unforgettable songs. It's set in pre-World War
II Berlin, where a rising storm of Nazism swirls outside the decadent
Kit Kat Club. This one will be staged by Broadway director and
choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge, nominated for a Tony and Drama Desk
awards in 2010 for her much-praised revival of Ragtime.

Robison says, "Fly is a truly unique play that
brings the important and inspirational story of the Tuskegee Airmen
alive for adults and young people alike. Cabaret marks the return
of the big Broadway musical to the Marx stage. I've always loved Kander
and Ebb for their ability to explore characters and stories in depth
while entertaining the heck out of you."

Announces the regional premiere of Mike Bartlett's 'Cock' April-May

Know Theatre today announced the regional premiere of Mike Bartlett's provocative play Cock to fill another slot in its 2012-2013 season. The show will run from April 12 to May 11, 2013, at the Over-the-Rhine theater's Jackson Street stage. It's just the second American production of the show, following its 2009 premiere at London's Royal
Court Theatre. (Know is actually just a week into its season "opener," a bravura production of Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling
that's earned praise from critics and audiences.) Last fall the theater
company announced a more flexible approach to scheduling, rather than
announcing an entire season of shows: “This is one of
the first victories of the new scheduling model," says Producing Artistic Director Eric Vosmeier. "Rights for this
production have only just become available, and because we've created a schedule
that can bend and flex, we can schedule a production almost
immediately. We're thrilled to be one of first post-New York
productions of this work.”

Cock is a tense
comedy about sexual identity. The show explores
one man’s choices about which path of love he will pursue. When John takes a break
from his longtime boyfriend, the last thing he expects is to fall in love with
a woman. Finding himself trapped in a tug-of-war between two lovers, he has a
choice to make as he navigates his sexuality, selfhood and the intersection of
the two. Bartlett's script opens a
dialogue about what people are physically attracted to and why. Cock is staged without scenery
or props, enabling the
audience to focus on the relationships. The story is described as "an exercise in emotional carnage" in which characters know what they want and are willing to fight for
it.

Vosmeier saw the show in New York City last fall. “It's a kind of pansexual love story that's told very simply without
all the trappings of a traditional production. A very simple set, no props,
minimal lighting and sound all conspire to allow the actors and Bartlett's
text to take center stage and shine.” Know's production will be staged by Brian Robertson, who teaches in the theater and dance department at Northern Kentucky University. No casting has been announced.